A last gasp Duncan MacAuley equalizer against St Paul’s on Sunday rescued a vital point that should secure Naomh Brid’s place in the top flight for next season. But while the evenness of the scoring throughout provided limited excitement for the sparse crowd on a chilly afternoon at Musgrave Park, there was precious little quality football on offer to entertain the purists.
There were early signs that the rigours of a lengthy season stretching back to April were starting to take their toll as both sides struggled with the basics in, admittedly, windy conditions. Naomh Brid in particular seemed to have exhausted their quota of accurate passes in the pre-match warm up as they gifted simple possession at an alarming rate. Not surprisingly it was a slack pass that led to a free to open St Paul’s account in the opening minute. Moments later the home support were acclaiming a goal only to find that Loughrey had found the side netting from Smyth’s through pass. A sublime effort from Edwards near the sideline opened the home account on eight minutes but St Paul’s edged back in front with a point after Mackle had spread himself well to deny a goal. Both sides lacked any real composure and rhythm as the high stakes seemed to have an unsettling effect. Edwards struck back to level from a free after Loughrey had forced an overcarry. But in an error-strewn first half a naive push in the back gifted St Paul’s the lead again from a simple free on 20 minutes.
From there to the interval the home side enjoyed their best spell of the match. Sweeney took a quick free to Reilly, who found Loughrey for the equalizer. Sweeney then opened his own account with a fine point to nudge Naomh Brid ahead for the first time. Loughrey capped the move of the match on 25 minutes with an excellent point from a slick passing move involving McMahon, McGrady and O’Neill. Just on half time Loughrey popped up again to increase the lead to three from McGuckian’s astute pass.
Half time: Naomh Brid 0-6 Naomh Pol 0-3
St Paul’s thought they had taken the lead on the resumption but their goal was chalked off for a foul and they had to settle for a point a minute later from a free. The hard-grafting McMahon then set up Sweeney to restore the three point lead on 39 minutes. But there was a frailty about Naomh Brid as too often their touch deserted them. Two quick fire points edged St Paul’s closer and while Cunningham punished a sloppy kickout to slot over from a tight angle, the Shaw’s Road men were beginning to dominate as the match entered the final 10 minutes. Naomh Brid were looking increasingly lethargic and they yielded possession cheaply as the visitors struck three points to hit the front briefly before Edwards hit back to level on 56 minutes. Tension mounted as St Paul’s once again took the lead and the referee had to restore order when simmering tempers eventually boiled over as some roughhouse tactics were deployed. Naomh Brid were at the mercy of the whistle as the match went into overtime but their persistence paid off when substitute MacAuley kept his nerve to fire over the final score and secure a vital league point.
A special mention is due to minor debutant Ben Synott who performed creditably at corner back and showed good promise.
Full time: Naomh Brid 0-10 Naomh Pol 0-10
Team: J Mackle, J McKeever (R Brolly), A Christie, B Synott, B McMahon, D O’Hagan, R O’Neill (D MacAuley), R Smyth, J McGuckian, B Reilly, M Sweeney, C McGrady, N Cunningham, D Edwards, J Loughrey
